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Gerry Keaney (left Volvo Car Corporation May 2011)

GERRY KEANEY, CV AND BIOGRAPHY

 


Name: Gerry Keaney

Present position: He left the company in May 2011

Joined Volvo: 1990

Born: 2 October 1956

Education:Business graduate of North Staffs Polytechnic, Chartered Accountant.

 

Previous positions:

2003 -2011: Senior Vice President, Marketing, Sales and Customer Service (MSS)

2002 -2003: Vice President, Sales, Volvo Cars

1999 -2002: Regional President, Europe/Beneluk Market Area, Volvo Cars

1996 -1998: Managing Director, Volvo Car UK Ltd.

1993 -1995: Sales & Marketing Director, Volvo Car UK Ltd.

1992 -1993: Sales & Dealer Director, Volvo Car UK Ltd.

1991: Field Operations Manager, Volvo Car UK Ltd.

1990: Network Representation Manager, Volvo Car UK Ltd

1986 -1990: Management consultant, Coopers Hybrand,

1984 -1986: Financial Controller, Habitat Ltd.

1982 -1984: Financial Analyst, Rockwell GB Ltd.

1980 -1982: British Leyland: various financial positions at Jaguar and Land Rover.


Civil status: Married and has three daughters

 

Hobbies: Sports, collecting maps, music, Italy, including its wines and food

 

BIOGRAPHY

 


Gerry Keaney was born on 2 October 1956 in St. Helens, a small Lancashire town close to Liverpool. The family later moved to Rugby in the British midlands - almost in the heart of the car industry - where he attended school.


At the age of 18, he enrolled in a Business Studies course at North Staffs Polytechnic and graduated in 1979. He is also a chartered accountant.

 

"After that, there was never any doubt that I would look for a job in the car industry," he recalls.

 

He joined British Leyland, spending two years with the company as an accountant - working with Land Rover and then with Jaguar!

"At that stage, I wanted to work for a somewhat smaller company. So I left BL for the British subsidiary of US Rockwell, which made axles for most of the European truckmakers, and I was also based for a time in the USA and Italy."

 

Gerry Keaney's career then took a completely different direction when he was appointed financial controller of Habitat, the British furniture and home furnishing multiple.

 

"Having visited Sweden to study IKEA, Habitat's founder established a similar operation in a smaller format - and it was a concept that worked well," he remarks. "However, the company then changed hands several times and, in the late 1990s, it was acquired by - yes, IKEA!

 

"I enjoyed the job - it was great to be in the High Street and to work directly in the everyday sales situation. We were also successful and we had a great management team."

 

Three years later, he joined a firm of management consultants, where he remained for four years.

"We had many interesting customers, and we undertook a number of exciting and strategic projects in my time there," remembers Gerry Keaney.

 

In 1990, he joined Volvo UK, then an independent importer.

"And a highly successful one," he adds. "At that time, Britain occupied a strong position as the second biggest Volvo market in the world. I had a number of different managerial positions before I was appointed MD in 1996. Three years on, I became Regional President for Beneluk (Belgium, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Ireland and Britain) at Volvo Cars - Volvo's largets region outside North America."

 

In August 2002, he moved to Göteborg as VP Sales before he became head of Marketing, Sales and Customer Service (MSS) on 1 March 2003.

 

He is very interested in sport, although he is now more a spectator than a participant.

"I keep fit by running, although I was once an active rugby player. My other hobby is collecting antique maps from around the world, mostly from Europe. I am interested in both the geographical and artistic aspects of cartography.

"As a near-Scouser, I obviously like music. Not just the Beatles, but a great deal of other stuff."

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